On The Fairway On A Not-so-fair Day

Our Towns: Cromwell

July 25, 1997

Somebody said it was raining Thursday, but in Cromwell, at the Canon Greater Hartford Open, that was just a little New England gray-day mist. After all, golfers worth their spikes know that if they can get to the first tee, the weather is never bad on the course.

By late morning, there were hundreds of spectators with umbrellas who decided the chance to watch some of the game's finest practitioners was worth suffering wet feet. Entrepreneurial neighbors were waving cars onto their lawns for $3, $4 or $5, depending on their distance from the entrance. Parkers willing to take a shuttle bus from the Edna C. Stevens School enjoyed an easy trip and the added pleasure of knowing their $5 parking fee contributed to the $12,000 to $15,000 raised each year during the tournament by the Cromwell Education Foundation for school projects.

Golfers marched through the wet grass wielding clubs with the precision of surgeons. Observers, many of whom quietly compare the pros' shots to their own games, are casually critical of a 200-yard fairway shot that slips off the back of a green or a sand shot that spins past the cup and onto the fringe. The level of expectation carried by fans must sometimes amuse the tournament players.

The golfers were working to make the cut after two rounds. That separates the big money from the also-rans. So, while Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly and Brad Faxon drew crowds to their fairways, the relative unknowns of the tour dueled with par unwatched and tried to play their way into the money and limelight.

For spectators, the GHO is an annual opportunity to see golf's artists working the green canvas on which their strokes are displayed. Short of a monsoon, no one notices the weather.